More Than Meets the Eye
by riven-del
Summary: Set in Armada. When she isn't helping the Autobots recover Minicons, Alexis is helping a friend in need. Though the two are close, Alexis is about to find that there is more than meets the eye with the war going on between the Autobots and Decepticons as information on her friend's origins comes to light.
1. The Silent Classmate

It was a sunny morning in Lincoln, Nevada. For most, it was peaceful. For a teenage platinum blond girl, no so much as she made a mad dash out of her deplorable excuse of a home with a male's voice throwing curses at her.

Unbeknownst to her, she was being watched and followed. A black car secretly followed the girl without her noticing, though with how fast she wanted to get away from that house it was possible she wasn't paying any attention to anything else.

_This had better be worth it._

* * *

><p>It was official: <em>math class was boring!<em>

Alexis had difficulty concentrating on today's lesson, and the teacher's monotonous style didn't help matters a bit. She was ahead on the work so she didn't worry all that much on the lesson. Instead she looked to her left to see a certain classmate she had known for some time.

This classmate had baggy, worn clothes and a poker face that kept everyone from knowing what the platinum blond girl was thinking. She was very closed off with the rest of her classmates, but Alexis was the only exception to this when they became friends before entering middle school together. Bullies never bothered her, and those that tried to bug her or someone who couldn't defend themselves were met with swift retribution. In a way, this girl was like a silent version of Optimus Prime, minus being a Transformer and being a general. That was her friend Terra though.

The bell to dismiss class today rang and that was when Terra spoke to her.

"Alexis," the soft spoken—a very unusual tone for someone that could stand her ground without hesitation—blond said making eye contact with her for the first time that day. She had to admit, Terra's purple eyes were extremely pretty and scary. "Can I come over this afternoon? Water got turned off."

"Sure," Alexis replied, knowing that Terra probably needed help for something else too. "I'll walk with you after school."

* * *

><p>After letting Rad and Carlos know she'd be at the base later, Alexis and Terra walked over to her house. Her mother welcomed them home, always expecting Terra to be in tow.<p>

"Terra, I washed your clothes you left here last time. If you need to take a bath, let me know so I can have the close you have now cleaned up," said Ms. White.

"Thank you, Ms. Smith," said Terra politely.

"Terra, you know better than that!"

"Sorry, Mom."

"That's better, now go get a bath." With that Terra left her school back in the kitchen and headed off to take a much needed bath.

Alexis sighed. She wished there was something she could do to help her friend. When she first met Terra, the girl had been running from her drunken foster father. She helped the girl hide, and since then they became good friends and Alexis's mother became a mother figure to Terra. And Alexis discovered the darker side of life that Terra had lived in for years. Her home life was bad, but somehow her foster parents were able to feign that everything was okay to Child Services. Terra was a tough girl and never allowed anyone to touch her in any way she didn't like, though that also resulted in some painful bruises curtesy of her foster parents.

"Alexis," her mom snapped her out of her musings. "Could you get some chamomile tea ready for Terra."

"Alright," she smiled went to make the tea. Despite her father walking out on them when she young and crippling them financially for some time, her mother welcomed Terra into their home as a second daughter and even planned on adopting the silent girl once she could find a lawyer to help with the legal stuff. For a moment Alexis wondered if once Terra was adopted that she should introduce her to the Autobots, since unbeknownst to them her mother knew after the older woman noticed her constantly hanging out with Rad and Carlos. Her mother was very understanding about the situation and always prepared a bag full of snacks and extra clothes for when she went to the Autobot base during the weekends.

She would have to ask Optimus and the gang later and see what they thought.

* * *

><p>The black car was hidden from view as he observed the white haired girl interacting with one of the Autobots' pets. It appeared the two were very close, and the black Deception was more than glad his time hadn't been wasted.<p>

"_Wheeljack to Megatron._"

* * *

><p>Terra was walking home when she noticed the murdered out car following her discretely. She did notice it this morning, but paid no attention to it. So far it had followed her for three blocks. She was more than tempted to give it one hell of a wild goose chase, and then thinking on it she decided there would be no harm in it. Her foster parents didn't care what she did, so long as she remained alive.<p>

She walked until she reached the forest area and then ran into the foliage with her pursuer hot on her tail.

* * *

><p><em>I do not own the Transformers, but I do own Terra. R&amp;R please! Thanks for reading!<em>


	2. Meeting the Team

What in the pit had he been thinking?

The human had been smarter than Wheeljack had expected of her species when she took off into the forest. He had to transform back into his bi-pede form just to go after her and he _still_ lost her! How had she outsmarted him so quickly?

* * *

><p><em>Looks like having a record for running away came in handy,<em> Terra mused to herself as the robot continued to look on the ground for her. Of course that would be the only place for him—she assumed it was a he—to search; she had climbed the closest tree when he lost sight of her a few minutes ago.

The sound of an approaching car brought her out of her thoughts and the robot looked towards the sound with a scowl.

"I don't have time for you Auto-punks!" the robot snarled. "Stay out of this!"

A yellow sports car came into view and transformed.

"What are you doing here, Wheeljack?" demanded the new robot.

"That's none of _your_ business, Autobot."

"It is when the last time Decepticons were out in the open here and you guys kidnapped two human kids."

Terra decided that _now_ was the best time to skedaddle while the two robots were about the fight—she knew there were going to be fists flying in less than a minute. No sooner had she gotten five feet away did fists _and_ shots begin to fly. It didn't take her long to find her way out of the woods and also run into more trouble.

"Well, looky here!" cackled a helicopter she had failed to notice sooner. "The smart little mouse that managed to get away!"

_I think I just ran into the robotic version of Bevis; I guess robots can also be dumbasses,_ Terra though before turning to run back into the forest—

"Looks like you're caught, kid," a missile tank taunted her as two jets came up on both sides, effectively blocking her from escaping. She examined each one of the disguised robots, not once showing fear.

"I like this kid," the red and white jet said, "she's not as much of a weakling as the other brats."

"I just know that losing my head won't help me in this," she remarked.

"Hahahaha! She's more intelligent too!" said the odd looking jet. "This will make bargaining with the Autobots all the more easy!"

Out of the corner of her eye, Terra noticed something big, red and blue charging towards them.

"I have to ask: why do you guys need _six_ of you just to catch me?" she asked.

"Six?" the helicopter asked confused.

_**Honk-honk! **__Wham! _ The huge diesel truck slammed the tank and made it flip onto its side.

"Guess it was just five of you guys," she mussed loudly before the truck pulled back, and then came up to her and opened its door.

"Get in," it said, though it didn't have to tell her in the first place. She quickly jumped in and the door closed right before the truck took off.

* * *

><p>Alexis and Sureshock were heading to the Autobot base when she heard the commotion and Optimus Prime in vehicle mode driving at high speeds. She and the Minicon kept going, knowing they needed to get to the base for safety and to not give the Decepticons any openings by getting taken hostage.<p>

_**Honk-honk!**_

"Whoa!" she and Sureshock skidded to a halt when Optimus pulled up in front of them. "I think I had a mini-heart-attack!"

The Autobot leader opened the passenger door and said, "Hurry, Alexis! We don't have much time!"

Alexis and Sureshock climbed in and that was when they noticed the other passenger.

"Alexis!"

"Terra?! What are you doing here?"

The door closed and wasted no time in warping out of there and back into the base.

"Oh man," Terra groaned as she and the other two passengers got out of Optimus. "That did _not_ feel pleasant at all."

Optimus transformed back into his bi-pede mode and said, "I'm sorry about that, but we had to get you three out of there as soon as possible."

"Optimus, what's going on?" asked Alexis. "I thought you guys were keeping a low profile."

"Something changed; Wheeljack went after your friend here after she left your house."

"Could someone tell me what the heck is going on?" said Terra whom was still recovering from her first warp trip. "And Alexis, what in the name of the almighty did you get yourself into this time?"

Alexis glanced at Optimus and he gave her a slight nod.

"Well, Terra, it's like this…" While Alexis explained about the Transformers and how she, Rad, Carlos, and surprisingly Fred and Billy got involved in the ongoing battle between the Autobots and the Decepticons, they led Terra to the command center where the rest of the team was waiting for them.

"Dang, Alexis," Terra said as they walked into the command center. "I knew you attracted trouble, but this tops it all! Heck, I think you even took my job of be a trouble magnet without me knowing." Everyone chuckled at that, including Alexis. "But in all seriousness: why did the Decepticons come after me now? Why try the same kidnapping scenario when it failed before?"

"I wished I had an answer for that," said Optimus, "but enough of that for the moment. Allow my men to introduce themselves."

One by one the Autobots introduced themselves: Jetfire, the Second in Command, Scavenger, Red Alert, Smokescreen, Blur, Sideswipe, and Hot Shot introduced himself as he walked in, he was the yellow transformer that distracted the Decepticon in the forest.

"I think you already met one of the Minicons," Alexis gestured to the small Transformer next to her. "This is Sureshock, my Minicon partner."

Sureshock gave a slight wave and Terra awed. "You're so cute!" They all heard the Minicon's cooling fan kick in, indicated he was blushing.

"Now that I think of it: where are the boys at?" she asked. "Aren't they part of the team too?"

"Yeah, where are they?" Hotshot looked around. "They're usually here by now…"

"Yo, amigos! What's going on?"

"There you are!" Alexis turned to the boys that just got to the command center. "Where were you?"

"Just stocking up the mini fridge," said Billy. "Why? Did something happen?"

"Well, something would've _have_ to happen for me to be here," Terra said, drawing their attention. "Several Decepticons came after me to whatever reason and your buddies here had to extract Alexis, Sureshock, and I." The boys were understandably shocked to see her there.

"Rampage Terra?!" exclaimed Fred. He and Billy were pale as a ghost.

"Oh, stop your whimpering, you little babies! So long as you don't bully anyone, you don't have to worry about me getting on to you guys."

"Rampage?" Optimus inquired.

"Her nickname at school," Alexis explained. "Terra hates bullying, especially when it's directed at people who can't defend themselves. If it's bad enough, she goes into an unstoppable rampage until the bully learns his or her lesson."

"That's an exaggeration and you know it, Alexis," remarked Terra. "I've only gone on a rampage once, and that was because five high schoolers were trying to gang up on you."

"What about that football player you gave that atomic wedgie to for harassing one of the cheerleaders?" asked Rad.

"Or that creepy pervert that tried to grope one of the girls on the last field trip?" chimed in Carlos. "I thought you had castrated the guy with how hard you kicked him."

"What about the local bike gang that tried to turn the football field into a race track after school?" asked Fred.

"_Alright_, you made your point," said Terra as she pinched the bridge of her nose and the entire team laughed.

"Kid, you'll fit right in with the team! We're going to have a lot of fun," said a grinning Blur.

"Maybe you can teach your friends some self-defense," said Scavenger. "Would you mind to show me some human combat skills?"

"I won't mind at all, Scavenger," Terra smiled at him. "In fact, I could give you a list of martial art moves you could study."

"I would very much appreciate that."

* * *

><p>Wheeljack was <em>not<em> in the best of situations at the moment.

"Well, Wheeljack, what do you have to say for yourself?" demanded Megatron. "How difficult is it to capture one, single human girl?"

"It should have been easy," commented Thrust, "but that girl proved to be more intelligent than those other brats."

"Hm?" Megatron directed his irritated gaze to his most trusted strategist. "What do you mean?"

"Well, she kept a level head and didn't scream like the other brats do," said Thrust.

"She gauged in all possible options of escape when we surrounded her, Lord Megatron," Starscream spoke. "She even noticed Prime before any of us detected him."

"It might not be worth the time and effort to capture the little escape artist and use her as a bargaining chip." _That_ was out of character for Thrust and all present Decepticons stared at the tactician as though he grew an extra head. "What?"

"My lord," said Wheeljack and Megatron returned his attention to the former Autobot. "When I first scanned the human female, I got some strange results."

"Strange?"

"Yes, I picked up something similar to a Spark from her."

Cyclonus and Thrust busted out into insane cackling.

"Impossible!" exclaimed Thrust through his cackles. "Your sensors were probably malfunctioning." However, Megatron was deep in thought and Starscream was already going over the data pertaining to the day's events.


	3. Alexis Gains A Sister

It was _very_ late at night before Terra snuck into her foster home without her foster parents noticing. She didn't worry about _them_ too much; she was nearly non-existent to them unless they needed a punching bag. With that in mind, she moved her small dresser in front of her bedroom door to make sure nobody tried to barge in or attempt to molest her in her sleep.

The next morning she was up and out of there before they woke up. She didn't go far before Hotshot pulled up to her and opened the passenger door.

"Need a ride?" he asked.

"That would be nice," she climbed in, throwing her school bag in the backseat. She closed the door and the yellow muscle car took off.

* * *

><p>Thrust watched the duo speed down the road towards the human's center of learning. He was able to perform a scan on the human before the Autobot picked her up, and was rather surprised to find that Wheeljack had been correct. The human had something very similar to a Spark in her chest; right above her heart to be exact! He <em>had<em> to get his hands on her now!

* * *

><p>Hotshot did curbside duty near the school, moving every so often to not attract attention. Since the Decepticons had tried <em>again<em> to obtain human hostages, it was decided that their human friends needed an escort while outside the base.

The final bell rang and students began to file out of the building, all going their separate directions. Rad, Carlos, and Alexis walked up to the road and Hotshot pulled up.

"Terra will be here in a minute," said Alexis. "She needed to see the nurse."

"Is she sick?" he asked concerned.

"Not really, she just—"

"Hey! Terra's in trouble!" Carlos pointed back up to the school. Terra was trying to pry herself out of a man's grip. The dude looked like he'd never seen a salad in his life, nor seen a shower. They could hear the man cuss Terra out, even though she didn't say anything back or do anything to protect herself. Alexis and Carlos got into the back seat while Rad got into the driver's seat.

"Terra!" Alexis called out, keeping the passenger door open.

Terra finally broke free and made a mad dash towards Hotshot. She jumped into the passenger seat and the muscle car Transformer sped off while closing the door. In the rear view mirror they could see the man get tackled down by two police officers.

"Uh…You wanna tell us what just happened?" asked Hotshot.

"Amiga! How long have you been putting up with _that_?" demanded Carlos. "Wasn't that your foster dad?"

"That _was_ my foster dad," said Terra, "now he and his wife are facing criminal charges and jail time."

"So the nurse finally gathered enough evidence to prove they were abusing you?" asked Alexis. "That would explain why the police were there so fast if the school turned them in."

"Wait a minute! Back up and explain." Rad made a time-out gesture with his hands. "What exactly is going on?"

"Don't forget me, the robot in disguise that has no clue on what just happened and what you guys are talking about," said Hotshot.

They were all silent for a moment before Terra said, "I'll explain back at the base. I don't want to repeat myself more than once to the entire team."

* * *

><p>Thrust cursed his luck and the disgusting human that delayed his mission. It appeared he would have to find another way to capture her, but for now he had to report back to the Decepticon base.<p>

* * *

><p>Terra and the boys of the human gang were on one of the catwalks in the command center with the rest of the Autobots. Alexis had gone off to take a call from her mother, but she knew what was about to be told so Terra saw no reason to delay the inevitable.<p>

"So far I've only told this to two people: Alexis and her mother," Terra began. "Hotshot's already told you all about my foster father getting arrested at the school, and you all have expressed your concern about this. I haven't known all of you for long, but I believe I can trust you to tell no one else about this. What I'm about to tell you does _not_ leave this base, clear?"

"Understood," said Optimus Prime and the rest of the Autobots acknowledged her request.

"We wouldn't tell anyone outside of the team anyway," said Rad.

"Yeah, this isn't something anyone else needs to know," chimed Carlos. "You can count on us, amiga."

"Our lips are sealed," said Billy while Fred nodded his head while still munching down on some potato chips.

"Alright," with their promise to keep this a secret, she began, "My full name is Terra Alpha, and I'm an orphan. No one knows who my biological parents were, or when I was born. I was found next to the highway not too far from this town with a bracelet on my ankle with my name written on it in two different languages. The first was in English, the other language is not recognized as any known language."

"Two languages?" mumbled Rad. "That's bizarre."

"Indeed. What makes it even more bizarre is that no one else in the world has my surname; I'm the only one on Earth with this name. Since no one could find anyone with that name and with no one coming forth to claim me, I was put in the foster system. My first foster family was a nice couple that raised me until I was ten years old, and then they had a kid of their own and sent me back. I was then taken in by my current foster family that is now facing criminal charges. This couple didn't want kids, but they took me in for the money the government would give them that was meant to help take care of me. It was around the first month after they took me in that I met Alexis; she helped me hide from my foster dad one day when he went on one of his drunken rages."

"They abused you?!" asked a shocked Red Alert. Apparently this was a foreign concept to most of the Autobots.

"Yes. I'm guessing this doesn't occur very often among Transformers?"

"It's nearly unheard of, but it does happen," said Optimus. "Please continue."

"Alexis's mother caught on to this and helped me out on many occasions, even going as far as to get the school to help gather evidence against my foster parents. The only reason it took four years to compile the evidence is because my social worker found signs of tampering in the government documents concerning my case."

"Wait, so they're not only facing child abuse charges, but also federal felony charges?" asked Rad.

"Felony?" asked Optimus and the rest of the Autobots looked equally confused.

"Let's just say they're never going to get a job when they get out of jail," said Carlos.

"And they will never be allowed to foster kids again," added Terra. "Since they're being arrested for such charges, I might end up going to another foster home—"

"Actually, she'll end up becoming my adopted sister," said Alexis when she came back in the room.

"Adopted?" Terra asked. "What are you talking about?"

"Your social worker called me to ask if you were okay," said Alexis with a broad smile. "She also told me that you'll be staying with me and my mom from now on. Mom applied to adopt you months ago and now we're waiting for the process to get finalized so she can be your legal guardian. Mom wasn't sure if she'd get approved to adopt you, but in light of what just happed, your social worker said I might get to call you my sister in a few days' time."

"Sister…" Terra's eyes were as wide as dish saucers and before they knew it she had fainted on the spot.


	4. Of Sparks and Karate

"Why can't we just dump water on her and wake her up?" asked Carlos after he and Rad moved an unconscious Terra to the room set aside for the kids while they visited the Autobot base. "I'm not complaining that she's heavy or anything, but she's gonna sleep the day away."

"I think she deserved some R&R after what happened earlier at school," said Rad. He and Carlos went back to rejoin the group in the command center.

"Will she be okay?" asked Hotshot once the boys were back.

"She'll be fine," Alexis said casually. "She'll wake up before you know it."

* * *

><p><em>She felt heavy and exhausted as she dreamt in total darkness until a piercing light momentarily blinded her. She heard a series of beeps, whirls of gears, and a variety of machine noises as she was placed into the arms of something huge and held close to something very warm. She opened her eyes to see only blurred figures looked down at her, and for some reason…she felt safe… <em>

* * *

><p>Terra awoke, feeling a sense of dread almost immediately after waking from her dream. The dream itself was strange, but the sense of dread after feeling so <em>safe<em> and _secured_ was unexpected. She felt like she was about to cry, that something bad was fast approaching and there was nothing she could do about it. She curled up into a fetal position and took deep breaths until she calmed down.

* * *

><p>Megatron gazed at the planet Earth from outside the Decepticon base with a worried countenance. He had felt a tug at his spark; something he had dreaded feeling since he came to Earth to hunt the Minicons.<p>

It meant _she_ was learning of her destiny.

It meant that the Chaos Bringer was waking up.

And getting the Minicons meant nothing now if the universe's greatest threat devoured Cybertron and the Allspark with it.

"Lord Megatron," he heard the Seeker that had come with him to Earth when the hunt for the Minicons started.

"You sensed it too." It was a statement, not a question. Starscream had come from a long line of High Priests of the Allspark. While the Seeker didn't have a strong connection to the spark of their creator like his ancestors once had, he still had the ability to receive vague messages and impressions from it the Allspark. Starscream knew what was bothering him, and why he had dreaded this day's coming while no one else knew. "I had hoped it would not have come to this."

"I had prayed to Primus for another way," said Starscream in a rare somber tone. "If we do not let _her_ succeed, then the greatest threat will continue to torment the universe until _she_ stops him."

"And nothing can change it?"

"Nothing. This was decreed long ago by the One, not long after the Chaos Bringer was casted out. Primus cannot interfere with this, even though our common enemy will try to change things."

Megatron continued to stare at the planet. He had to decide now to either continue with the hunt, or call it off and get back to Cybertron ASAP and ready the Decepticon armada. However, he had to make sure _she_ returned to Cybertron as well. He had a vague suspicion on who _she_ was on Earth if Smokescreen's and Thrust's reports were anything to go by. He knew the only way to make sure was to meet her in person.

* * *

><p>Terra had pulled herself together and rejoined the group. Currently she was teaching Scavenger an ancient Karate technique that was no longer used in tournaments.<p>

"This is called the Yamazuki," she explained as she demonstrated the move, using Rad as her demonstration dummy. "While most fighters are taught to protect their face on instinct, they won't be expecting _another_ fist to be flying at the same time down lower." Rad had blocked the fist aimed for his head, but his gut was left wide open for her free had to punch him at his center of gravity. "This throws your opponent off balance if you use this correctly. It is most effective as a first hit move."

Scavenger practiced the move on Optimus, correcting his stance to fully hit Optimus's center of gravity. Optimus practiced the move a few times before they continued on to another technique.

"Ahem," Red Alert made his presence known to the group. "Excuse me, but do you mind if I borrow Terra for a few minutes? I would like to examine her."

"Alright," Terra walked over to him and hopped onto his shoulder. "Rad can help you two if you have any questions."

"Thanks for the lesson, Terra." Scavenger called out to her as Red Alert walked away with her secured on his shoulder.

"Anytime, Scavs!" she called back before they left the room. "So, what do you need to examine me for, Red Alert?"

"It is just a standard medical scan," he explained. "With your previous living conditions, I'm worried about your overall health."

"Okay, but I should tell you: if you find something on my heart, it's nothing life threatening."

"What do you mean? Is something growing on your heart?"

"Well, yes, something _is_ attached to my heart. It's been growing with my heart my entire life and doctors have no idea what it could be. It doesn't affect my heart functions, and one time my previous foster family attempted to remove whatever it was. However, when the surgeon barely touched the thing, I woke up and screamed bloody murder."

"Weren't you under anesthesia?" The Autobot medic looked very shocked by this.

"Yes and the doctors were just as baffled as well. They stopped the surgery after realizing that it was more connected to my body than they first realized."

"Maybe this examination will reveal what this thing is."

When they got to the Medical Bay, Red Alert had her lay on an examination berth before starting the scan. A green beam of light went up and down her body and displayed the collected data onto a monitor for the medic to examine.

"What the…?" he said continuing to look over the data. When he reached the data pertaining to her heart, he froze for a long moment before contacting Optimus.

* * *

><p>Optimus Prime called for a break with training when Red Alert commed him to come to the Medical Bay. It had been a little over thirty minutes after the medic collected their new human friend for an examination. Was something wrong with her?<p>

The Autobot leader walked in to the Medical Bay to find Terra on an examination berth and Red Alert at the scan monitor.

"Red, you're starting to scare me," said Terra in a nervous tone. "What is going on?"

"I would like to know too," said Optimus.

"Good, you're here." Red Alert spent no time on enlarging the image of Terra's heart on the screen. Optimus hadn't seen the image of the human organ often, but he knew that a normal heart did _not_ look like _that_. "All of the data gathered during examination do not add up for a normal human. In addition to this, Terra has a Cybertronian Spark growing alongside her heart."

"What?!"

"A Spark?" Terra looked and sounded confused.

"A Spark is the equivalent of a soul for us," Red Alert explained for her benefit. "The fact that a Spark resides in her body without causing complications is a near impossibility since Sparks emit a type of radiation lethal to humans if they are fully exposed to it. However, with this and the strange data gathered, I can say that Terra might not have been originally human."

"Are…are you saying that…that I'm…" the girl in question tried to ask what Red Alert was getting at, though her panic was starting to take over.

"Do you have the bracelet you were found with?" the medic asked softly. She pulled out the tiny, beaded bracelet from her pocket and showed it to them. They saw her name written in English, and the unidentified glyphs were unmistakable for the two Autobots to recognize. "I thought as much. That language is an old dialect of Cybertronian."

"Indeed," the Prime tried not to appear shocked, but he had a feeling he wouldn't be able to hide his emotions after seeing _this_. "This is a dialect used by High Priests of the Allspark."

"What…what does it say?" she asked.

"It has your real name, and additional symbols indicating who your parents are and a special symbol. Your real name is Stardancer, and—"

Terra's eyes widened before she gripped her head and began to scream in pain.


	5. Ms Smith Is Scary

**_Riven-del:_**Thank you to all of you who reviewed this story thus far! It makes me very happy to know people are reading and enjoying this story! Enjoy this new chapter!

* * *

><p>"What in the pit happened?" demanded Jetfire after Terra was sedated.<p>

"I wished I knew," said Red Alert. The rest of the Autobots and the humans were in the Med Bay now wondering what happened to cause Terra to scream. "The bracelet she has has Cybertronian glyphs with her real name and the name of her parents. When we told her her name she began to scream."

"Her name? Wait, do you mean—" Alexis began but was cut off by Optimus.

"Terra is originally a Cybertronian, and is possibly a descendant of a line of High Priests which would explain a certain glyph on the bracelet."

"I think this would make more sense if you started from the beginning," said Scavenger. Everyone looked equally confused and remained silent as the medic and leader explained what happened. The group remained silent, digesting the new information about their friend, until Alexis began asking questions.

"If she is really a Cybertronian, then why does she look and act like a human down to the normal body functions?" was her first question, however it brought up some valid points that needed to be addressed.

"She isn't a Techno-Organic, which _could have_ explained it, but since she isn't we can only form conjectures at this point," said Red Alert. "For all we know her creators—or parents in human terms—might have turned her into human and sent her here for whatever reason they had to do so."

"Is that even _possible_?" asked Rad.

"I do not believe so, at least with our current technology," said Optimus Prime. "However, since the dialect was of the High Priests dialect, I have a suspicion that something else is at play, or more specifically: Primus sent Terra here for a reason."

The Autobots looked shocked while the kids appeared lost.

"Who is Primus?" asked Carlos.

"Is he your version of God?" asked Billy.

"In a manner of speaking; Primus is the Ultimate Good that created us and Cybertron. His Spark, the Allspark, resides in the core of our world, and the High Priests of the Allspark guard it and relay messages from Primus himself to the rest of us. If he sent Terra here on a mission, then we need to help her regain her memories and find out what that mission is."

"Now hold on a second," said Hot Shot. "Terra's been here since she was only a few Earth days old, how is she supposed to remember anything if she was sent here as a newly created sparkling?"

"She reacted to her real name, didn't she?" said Fred, showing a rare moment of intelligence beyond thoughts of food. "She's gotta remember _something_ if she screamed after hearing her own name."

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean she'll remember her mission, Fred," said Billy. "What if her parents were only instructed to send her here and she never knew about her mission?"

"I don't know, this does seem a little too fishy to be coincidence," mussed Carlos who crossed his arms in thought. "I mean, Rad and I woke up the Minicons and brought you guys and the Decepticons to Earth, _and_ Terra just so happens to have been living in the area for the past fourteen years?"

"Honestly, I'm more worried about Terra," said Alexis. "If remembering caused her enough pain to scream like that, then I don't know if it would be a good idea to help her remember anything from her Cybertronian life." That made everyone shut up.

Optimus looked as though he were about to say something when they heard Terra moan. They all looked towards her just as she sat up.

"Oh, dear Lord," she groaned, palm on her forehead. "Tone it down, guys. My head feels like it got split open." She looked even paler than usual, making Red Alert scan her on instinct.

"Hot Shot, can you take Alexis and Terra home," said the medic. "She needs to rest."

* * *

><p>The drive had been quiet and Terra had fallen back to sleep on the way home. Unfortunately, once she fell asleep she slept <em>hard<em>.

"She must be sicker than we thought," said Hot Shot in his holoform as he and Alexis dragged her into the latter's house and into the guest room. His holoform had sandy blond hair, blue eyes, and was wearing black pants with a black and yellow hoodie. Overall, he looked cute to Alexis's mom. Ms. Smith made sure Terra was tucked into bed before ushering them into the living room.

"At least it's the weekend, meaning she'll have plenty of time to recover," said the woman of the house. "Hopefully she'll be better in the morning; I want to take her shopping tomorrow."

"Shopping? For what?" Alexis inquired.

"Why, to update your new sister's wardrobe of course!" Ms. Smith said this with so much enthusiasm that Alexis and Hot Shot suddenly feared for their sanity. "It's not every day that we get to do something fun, and since the three of us have tomorrow off I thought we could spend the day together while getting proper attire for Terra!"

"Mom, did you suddenly turn into a teenager?" asked an extremely surprised Alexis.

"Or are you an imposter disguised as her?" asked Hot Shot. He had met the woman on several occasions and he had _never_ seen the woman act like _this_.

"Now, Hot Shot," the woman in question said, shocking the hell out of him, "would you be our chauffer tomorrow?" Something in her tone made it sound more like a command than a request. Hot Shot's holoform gulped, suddenly feeling very intimidated by the woman.

* * *

><p>Optimus Prime noticed how fast Hot Shot drove back into the base nearly an hour after the yellow Autobot dropped Terra and Alexis off at their home. The Autobot in question transformed back into his bi-pede form once he reached the base, looking very frightened by something.<p>

"Did something happen, Hot Shot?" he inquired, curious as to what spooked the brash warrior.

"I know now where Alexis gets her intimidating side," the young warrior said. Optimus couldn't help but smile as Hot Shot explained what happened between him, Alexis, and the older Smith. He had a suspicion that Ms. Smith knew of their existence with how much supplies Alexis kept bringing to the base every weekend, but to have coerced Hot Shot into being their chauffer for tomorrow's activities without using threats was downright amusing to the Prime.

* * *

><p>Starscream was about to log into his personal computer when he received a vision…<p>

_Optimus Prime was talking to one of the humans—Rad, he believed was this human's name—and from their body language he had a feeling it was an important topic they were covering. _

_ "Don't you think Terra should remember on her own?" said Rad, clearly concerned for this Terra person. "I mean, pushing her might cause more problems in the long run." _

_ "I know, Rad, but my main concern is getting that point across with _certain_ members of the team," said Optimus. "I don't think I need to tell you whom I'm referring to since they don't listen more than half of the time an order has been given." _

_ "That's true, but they could get punished if they did something to trigger a memory painfully," the young human suggested. "Like washing all the floors of the base, or clean the medical tools." _

_ "I'll have to confer with Red Alert on that last one," Optimus said with humor, "but other than that cleaning all the floors would be punishment enough to leave Terra alone until she remembers her life as Stardancer on her own." _

Starscream decided then and there to send them a message. He typed away, encrypted it in the old High Priest dialect—just because he didn't follow his ancestors' path doesn't mean he didn't learn something from them—and sent the message. Hopefully the idiots wouldn't cause any more harm to the girl than they already had done. Suppressed memories were a delicate case, and remembering too much at once did more harm than good to the person with said memories.

"So her name is Terra," he mused to himself. "At least we have _something_ to go on now."

* * *

><p>Back at the Smith home, Terra laid wide awake in bed after dinner. Ms. Smith told her what they were doing tomorrow and the teen worried for her remaining sanity.<p>

Alexis's mother had been itching to take them both shopping for some time, and now that the perfect excuse to blow money came up, Terra knew she and Alexis were going to have a hard time keeping her out of certain stores they wouldn't want to drag _any_ of the Autobots through. It would be good punishment for the boys if they did something to annoy them, but to show the Autobots a certain section of human clothing like that was embarrassing on so many levels and they didn't want to traumatize poor Hot Shot.

_So long as we stay clear of Victoria's Secret, we'll be A-Okay,_ she told herself until she fell asleep.

* * *

><p>Scavenger was on monitor duty when he received a message addressed to the Autobot team.<p>

"Red Alert," he commed the medic, "we got an encrypted message from an unknown source."

"I'll be right up," came the response not a second later. Red Alert came in several moments later and got to work decrypting the message. "Hmm…Interesting. This message is in the High Priest dialect found on Terra's bracelet."

"So someone knows who and what she is," it was more of a statement than a question. "Question is: who sent it?"

"Unknown. For all we know, her parents might have detected a change in her spark bond." He displayed the translated message on the screen.

_Do not push her. Let her figure out the puzzle on her own._


End file.
